The Register posted a cheerful article today, discussing the security of the other Internet of Things, which they have dubbed the Internet of Big Things. Botnets formed out of compromised toasters, refrigerators and webcams is one thing; taking over power stations and industrial equipment is quite another. Citizens of the Ukraine know the dangers all too well, having had their power grid taken offline once in 2015 and again more recently by nefarious means. Take a read through to learn about how vulnerabilities in systems such as the Industrial Control System and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition could be used to cause significant harm, as well as a search engine reassuringly named Shodan.

"The Internet of Big Things exists because it makes perfect sense to have accessibility to equipment from afar. Industrial systems are complex, specialist items and for many such systems it’s common for there to be only a handful of qualified maintenance staff in the country, continent or world."

Likely you caught at least one news story on the remotely disabled Jeep recently, with the attackers able to control system ranging from annoying to life threatening. If that didn't rustle your jimmies, how about a drug infusion system used in hospitals which can be remotely controlled? It is not just that the pump can be used to cut off or overdose a patient on drugs, it is the abysmal security that was put onto the pump. Both telnet and FTP ports were left wide open, two very popular and effective routes into systems you shouldn't necessarily be in and port 8443 which the system uses shipped with a generic password which, like SOHO routers everywhere, was never changed after the pump was installed. Overall an inexcusable affront to those who think about security and a terrifying glimpse into the utter incompetence of providers of devices which were never network connected until recently. You can read more about the Hospira horror story at The Register.

"The US Food and Drug Administration has told healthcare providers to stop using older drug infusion pumps made by medical technology outfit Hospira – because they can be easily hacked over a network."